Field Note Taking Equipment

[Paz]

I keep a note of my observing sessions and used to do this by writing down my notes after I had come in, dried anything out that needed drying out, and packed everything away. This often meant I would forget or miss key points in my notes from being tired. I then started using a small notebook but fiddling about with a note book in the dark was a distraction, and over this last winter writing notes made my hands freeze up much quicker than they otherwise would.

I then had an idea to try a voice recorder to take notes in the field in real time and then listen to them and pick out the bits to write down whenever was convenient. I ended up getting one and it has been perfect.

The one I got has big shaped record/pause buttons so I can use it with gloves on, it is small and light, it has a small red light that is solid when recording and flashes when paused so I can tell what it is doing without needing a torch and wrecking my night vision, it works fine in the cold, and it is really simple to play back. It is one of the cheapest voice recorders I found - the more expensive recorders had more complexity than I needed.

It is now easy to make notes and I rate this as one of my best astro-buys.

 

[Buzzard75]

That's actually really smart. I've only taken a notebook with me a few times. On one occasion the humidity got so high and everything dewed up that the pages actually got damp as well. There went that notebook.

[Demonperformer]

Totally agree with the use of voice recordings. So easy and does not require a 'red light'. It can also be great if you want to get exact timings of things. Record a time using your favourite method and then just leave it running without pausing it. You can then just use a 'mark' when things happen (which you can describe on the recorder) and get timings to the second. Great for occultations. I first used this when I was doing an experiment seeing how difficult it was for workers before modern equipment who noted objects "following star x by y amount of time". Even with a voice recorder it was a nightmare, and gave me great respect for those who did it having to record everything by hand. We have it so easy nowadays.

[DirkSteele]

I have started doing the same.  I typically only log my international observing trips as I like to write them up on my site, but while I used to keep the log at the eyepiece and scribble down some notes there and then, on my last trip away I recorded instead and transcribed the next day to my log book.

[FenlandPaul]

Glad this is working out for you, Paz. I've gone back and forth on what works well for me. Occasionally I use a voice recorder a bit like yours, but I found that I'd accumulate a lot of audio and never quite get round to writing it all up, so it was wasted. But I could probably be a bit more concise when I'm talking! Overall I find scribbled notes with a few abbreviations and, often but not always, an eyepiece sketch works well for me.  But even then I can accumulate piles of rough notes that need converting into something that makes sense.

but you've made me contemplate using my voice recorder again!